Amber Elaine Glenn (born October 28, 1999) is an American figure skater. She is a 2026 Olympic Games team event gold medalist, the 2024–25 Grand Prix Final champion, a three-time U.S. national champion (2024–26), a six-time ISU Grand Prix medalist, and a five-time ISU Challenger Series medalist. She has also finished within the top ten at five ISU Championships.
Early in her career, she won bronze medals at two ISU Junior Grand Prix events (2013 JGP Czech Republic, 2014 JGP France) and was the 2014 U.S. Junior champion. She is the fourth American woman to land a clean triple axel in international competition.
Glenn is the first American woman to win three consecutive U.S. National titles since Michelle Kwan (2003–05). Upon her selection for the 2026 Winter Olympics, she became the first openly queer woman to represent the United States in Olympic figure skating. Additionally, at age 26, she was the oldest American woman to qualify for an Olympic singles team since 1928.
She is also the fifth woman to land a triple Axel at a Winter Olympic Games.
Career
Early career Glenn first began skating at the age of five at an ice rink inside the Stonebriar Centre Mall. She was inspired to pursue the sport competitively after watching Sarah Hughes win the gold medal in women's singles at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Her coaches, Ann Brumbaugh and Ben Shroats, described her as a determined, passionate, and athletic skater who at times struggled with perfectionism. Within one year of skating, Glenn had landed the axel jump. By age eleven, Glenn had landed all triple jumps except the axel.
To afford the high costs associated with competitive figure skating, her father, Richard, worked up to 30 hours of overtime per week along with various side jobs, while her mother, Cathlene, worked at the ice rink and served as a nanny for Glenn's coach to receive discounted lessons. The family also reduced costs by purchasing used blades and costumes second-hand through eBay.
Competing in the novice category, Glenn placed second at the 2012 U.S. Championships behind Karen Chen. The next year, Glenn competed at the junior level, placing seventh in the short program and sixth in the free skate for an overall fifth place finish.
2013–14 season: First Junior Grand Prix medal and National junior champion At the 2013 ISU Junior Grand Prix in the Czech Republic, Glenn made her junior international debut. Glenn finished third overall, winning the bronze medal.
Glenn qualified for the 2014 U.S. Championships after winning the 2014 Midwestern Sectional Championships title at the junior level. At the U.S. Championships, Glenn placed first in both segments of the competition to win the national title. Her total score of 186.51 was, at the time, the highest ever recorded for a junior lady at the U.S. Championships under the ISU Judging System.
Glenn later noted that the expectations following her title win contributed to subsequent challenges with her mental health. This pressure was intensified by the success of the junior champions from the prior two years, Gracie Gold and Polina Edmunds, both of whom had successfully transitioned from their junior success to the 2014 Olympic team.
Ranked fifth in the short program and eighth in the free skate, she finished seventh at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
2014–15 season: Second Junior Grand Prix medal In May 2014, U.S. Figure Skating named Glenn as the recipient of the 2014 Athlete Alumni Ambassador (3A) overall award. In August, she won bronze at the 2014 JGP in France. She finished sixth at her second JGP assignment in Estonia and thirteenth on the senior level at the 2015 U.S. Championships.
2015–16 season: Senior international debut and mental health struggles Glenn began the 2015–2016 season training in McKinney, Texas under Ann Brumbaugh and Ben Shroats. At the junior level, she placed fifth at the 2015 JGP Latvia. Afterwards, struggles with depression, an eating disorder, and her sexuality led to Glenn being admitted for inpatient treatment. In a later interview, she said that she was told her sexuality was unimportant instead of being offered help with understanding it, something she found hurtful. With her first international senior assignment at the 2015 Autumn Classic International pending, she decided to leave the facility to attend. She would later describe the event as a "disaster" that she had no memory of beyond her sixth-place finish.
Glenn announced that she would take a break to "reevaluate". In a 2024 profile in The Washington Post, she revealed that her psychiatrist had told her to stop skating indefinitely. She resumed training in February 2016 after joining Peter Cain and Darlene Cain in Euless, which is situated halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. One of her training mates there was non-binary skater Timothy LeDuc, who Glenn credited with helping her to accept her sexuality and identity.
2016–17 season Glenn placed fifth at the 2016 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, fourth at the 2016 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, and eighth at the 2017 U.S. Championships. She was selected to compete at the 2017 World Junior Championships but withdrew in early March due to "personal reasons."
2017–18 season
Glenn finished eighth at the 2017 CS Lombardia Trophy. She was invited to compete at her first Grand Prix event, the 2017 Cup of China, after the withdrawal of Gracie Gold. She placed tenth in China and finished the season with a second consecutive eighth-place at the 2018 U.S. Championships.
2018–19 season Glenn was sixth at the 2018 CS Lombardia Trophy and seventh at the 2019 U.S. Championships. She would finish the season with a fourth-place finish at the 2019 Challenge Cup.
2019–20 season: First senior international medal At the start of the 2019–20 season, Glenn competed on the ISU Challenger Series, winning the bronze medal at the 2019 CS U.S. Classic. This marked her first senior international medal.Glenn was selected as the host pick for 2019 Skate America, where she placed seventh. She was later added to the 2019 Cup of China following the withdrawal of Viveca Lindfors, finishing sixth overall after placing third in the short program. These events marked the first time Glenn competed in two Grand Prix assignments in a single season.
At the 2020 U.S. Championships, Glenn placed fourth in the short program with a clean performance. Reflecting on her decision to come out as pansexual the previous month, she noted that the openness "brought a weight off my shoulders," adding that she no longer had to "pretend I'm someone I'm not anymore." She dropped to fifth place overall after placing ninth in the free skate and stated that she needed to continue focusing on her "mental toughness." Her result earned her an assignment to the 2020 Four Continents Championships, her first senior ISU championship. There, Glenn finished in ninth place and set a new personal best total score of 190.83.
2020–21 season: First senior national medal and triple axel attempts The coronavirus pandemic prompted a multi-month hiatus from training, after which Glenn began working on mastering the triple Axel, which she had been attempting "for fun" periodically for nine years by that point. She missed an early virtual competition due to fracturing her orbital bone and sustaining a severe concussion after passing out during cryotherapy but then attempted the triple Axel for the first time in competition during a later virtual domestic event, though she singled it. With the pandemic restricting international travel, the ISU opted to conduct Grand Prix assignments based mainly on training location. Glenn was assigned to compete at the 2020 Skate America. She placed fifth in the Skate America short program after having to execute a turn in between her triple-triple jump combination. She was sixth in the free skate and remained in fifth place overall.
Glenn attempted her triple Axel in the short program at the 2021 U.S. Championships but was unable to land it successfully. Her otherwise strong performances earned her her highest-ever placement at the event and first senior national medal, a silver. She expressed that she was "happy to finally put out a performance I'm proud of." Glenn revealed that she had been suffering from a foot infection that had spread up to the knee and had begun a course of antibiotics on the day of the free skate.
Despite her silver medal, U.S. Figure Skating opted to name bronze medalist Karen Chen, who had finished 0.35 points behind Glenn, alongside champion Bradie Tennell to the 2021 World Championships team. It was the first time since 2008, when Katrina Hacker was bypassed in favor of Kimmie Meissner, that the selected ladies team in a non-Olympic year did not follow Nationals placements (for age-eligible skaters). Instead Glenn was named first alternate. She had previously said when asked about the prospect of the World team, "US Figure Skating should go with a team that they know will go and get those three spots back. Whether that includes me or not, I'm all for it either way."
2021–22 season
After withdrawing from the 2021 Cranberry Cup, Glenn made her full competitive debut at the 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy, where she placed tenth. Beginning the Grand Prix at 2021 Skate America, Glenn did not attempt a triple Axel in competition after practice session difficulties. Seventh in both segments of the competition, she placed sixth overall with a score of 201.02, breaking 200 points internationally for the first time. She went on to finish seventh at the 2021 NHK Trophy.
Glenn concluded the fall season at the 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where she won the silver medal. Attempting to qualify for the American Olympic team at the 2022 U.S. Championships in January, Glenn struggled in the short program and finished fourteenth in that segment. She tested positive for COVID-19 afterward and withdrew before the free skate. She was named as an alternate for the Olympic team. Glenn later reflected that while she had not assumed that going to the Olympics was possible for most of her career due to the expectations raised after the previous national championships, "I felt like I was expected to make it, so that made it all the more devastating. It was hard."
2022–23 season: First Grand Prix medal
Before starting the season, Glenn moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado to train under Damon Allen, Tammy Gambill, and Viktor Pfeifer. She said her departure from the Cains was amicable, reasoning that "I needed to grow, not just as a skater, but as a human. I lived in the same city, the same place, my entire life."
Glenn began the season by winning a bronze medal at the Skating Club of Boston's Cranberry Cup event before finishing fourth at the 2022 CS Lombardia Trophy. On the Grand Prix at 2022 Skate America, she scored a personal best in her short program of 68.42, placing third in that segment and then third in the free skate as well to take the bronze medal. This was her first Grand Prix figure skating medal. On her free skate performance she said afterward "knowing that I didn't feel 100% out there when I was skating and how much room for improvement, the possibilities are endless. It really kind of just blew my mind that I'm finally starting to reach my potential." For the 2022 NHK Trophy, she declared that she was "not playing it as safe" as she had at her first event. The short program in Sapporo, Japan was a struggle; she put a hand down on her jump combination and then fell on and underrotated the final triple loop. She finished eleventh of twelve skaters in the segment. Glenn said, "it's so disheartening to have a skate like that after working so hard." She placed eighth in the free skate but remained eleventh overall.